


Serenade

by orphan_account



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Gen, POV First Person, not meant to be taken seriously, pure randomness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 01:56:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12098181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: This was not my idea of a serenade. Nope. Not one bit.For Alikouweek Day 1: Sweet|Friendship





	Serenade

 

Song: "Harana" (Serenade) by Parokya ni Edgar

* * *

_The Chronicles of the Amazing Adventurer Alibaba_ , Chapter 147:

 Not long after we launched the Fanfan Trading Company, Ka Koubun “enlightened” me that we’d be celebrating the anniversary of Kougyoku’s coronation in two weeks. Two weeks! I didn’t have a present for her and I could not think of any gift that would fit the occasion—unless I’d give her flowers, but since it was supposed to be such a “grand day” I figured I’d need at least a hundred bouquets of roses and what in the world would Kougyoku with 1,001 flowers? It had to be something special, something not just for an empress but also for a very good friend…close friend…more than a friend…very, very dear friend. Something unique, something amazing.

It took me three days to form a plan.

One of the first things I learned about Kougyoku is that she loves music. She plays the _guzheng_ really well and hums a lot when she’s in the garden. I bet she knows five times as many songs as I do. She even likes Balbadd-style tunes, and once she actually tried playing the _qanun_. And then she asked me to try. She did great. I didn’t. Anyway, I’d decided to treat her to a night of authentic Balbadd music. I hired a band of gypsies to perform in the courtyard on that very special date. The plan was for me—yes, _me_ —to sing one of my favorite songs while they’d play in the background.

Their leader was a kind old guy who could handle seven different instruments. “You should play, too,” he said, as if singing in front of a crowd of musical connoisseurs wasn’t difficult enough. So I took a crash course on playing the _oud_. I had one week to learn it and not break my fingers in the process.

Then, when the big day came, they didn’t show up. THEY DIDN’T SHOW UP! AT ALL! NOT ONE SINGLE MEMBER OF THEIR GROUP! There I was panicking with nothing but a single stringed instrument that I could barely play and HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO JUST SING SOLO IN FRONT OF EVERYBODY?!!

But I really wanted to give Kougyoku her present. She deserved it so much. So I did what every person in such a horrible situation would do: I called back-up.

Back-up meaning: Aladdin, Morgiana, Koumei, Hakuryuu, and Judar. Yes, _Judar_. I still don’t know how Hakuryuu convinced him to be part of the whole scheme, but yeah, there he was, with a huge scowl on his face. Typical Judar.

“Alibaba-kun will be singing and playing his sitar.  What are the rest of us going to do?” Aladdin asked me.

“It’s called an _oud_ , not a sitar,” I explained. I gave ten chrysanthemums each to him and Morgiana.

“And how about _us_? what are WE supposed to do?” complaining magi complained.

“You three will be the ones holding the banner.”

“Banner? I do not recall you mentioning the use of props.” That was Koumei speaking, calm and curious as usual.

I unrolled a ten-meter long bundle of violet cloth. Everyone stared at the contents except Judar, who looked like he wanted to kill me.

“Happy Coronation Anniversary, Empress Kougyoku,” Hakuryuu read aloud.

“YOU WANT US TO HOLD THAT THING? FOR HOW MANY HOURS? WHY IS IT SO HUGE? YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED THE SERVANTS INSTEAD!”

Guess who was shouting? That lazy magi of course.

“Can’t we use magic for this? It would make our work easier,” suggested my best buddy (who is not lazy, or obnoxious, or rude, or a brat, and the list goes on and on).

“No. Absolutely no magic should be involved. Let’s make this authentic.”

“You mean _difficult_ , Baka-Haniwa.” And Aladdin, my wonderful friend Aladdin, silenced him by shoving a handful of flowers at his face.

“Get that thing off my face! Oi, Haniwa! Why do I have to be part of this anyway? Is this payback or what?”

I needed four deep breaths to answer that.

“You owe me.”

“Why?”

“Food. shelter. Protection.  Not getting turned into supper. Who do you think saved you from those monsters, hmm?”

He cursed and shut up afterward. _Finally._

“Alright, let’s do this!” I tried to be as enthusiastic as possible, but Judar was mad, Morgiana a bit confused, and Koumei just about ready to fall asleep. I could only hope I wouldn’t embarrass myself again tonight.

“Remember to smile everybody!” Okay, I was wrong…not _everybody_. Everybody except Judar. Whenever Judar smiles, he looks like he wants to eat someone. Not exactly the best impression. Koumei wasn’t responding anymore so I guess he really was off to dreamworld this time.

Thirty minutes later, when Aladdin convinced me that we were all set to go (and Koumei assured me that he would not fall asleep mid-performance), I invited Kougyoku to the veranda. It was a beautiful night. And Kougyoku was as lovely as the moon shining above the rows of candles. I gave her a red carnation, which she accepted with a smile that probably had me blushing for a moment, then I took her hand and led her to a carved bamboo seat, right across the… _smashed floorboards?_ Wait, what was going on? And where did Morgiana disappear to all of a sudden?

I heard a squeak. A rat as big as a cat ran past me and escaped into the bushes—oh, Morgiana caught it. _Yikes._ Lucky for me, Kougyoku didn’t notice the commotion. She was all smiles and pretty in her royal blue robes and I just wanted to give her a thousand million jasmines if it would make her happy always.

Hakuryuu cleared his throat, reminding me what I came here for. Right. I was going to sing. And play. In front of Kougyoku. No pressure. Nope. None at all.

I took a deep breath and plucked the first few (hopefully not _wrong_ ) notes. The breeze picked up as I began to sing and then it blew harder and then before we knew it, the wind had blown out all the candles. To make things worse, the termites and the night bugs that had been peacefully hovering around the flames stormed towards poor Kougyoku the moment the lights went out. Great. Just great.

By a stroke of luck, Koumei was able to find a box of matches. Hakuryuu helped him light a few torches, leaving Judar to—

“Heyyyyy! Don’t leave me with this thing…ACK!”

—keep the banner from flapping around. Morgiana and Aladdin rushed to grab hold of both ends, dropping all their flowers into the mud, until Hakuryuu and Koumei could return to their positions and WHACK! Koumei got smacked in the face.

Just…one…song…and I couldn’t even do it right. After all that happened, I completely forgot the notes I was supposed to pluck and strum. How could I even face Kougyoku after this?

“Keep singing!” Aladdin whispered. It was all the encouragement I needed.

“Hurry up Haniwa…my arms are getting numb…I’m gonna freeze you in a glacier if you don’t…” Encouragement. Yeah. That too.

Koumei sneezed. Twice. A third time. Fine, maybe a little bit of magic could have helped.

Where was I?

_Under a starry, starry night_

_In the chilly evening breeze_

_Seeing your sweet gaze makes my heart beat_

_Like crazy_

I don’t remember the rest of the lyrics or what I said or did the rest of the night. But Kougyoku was humming the song the next morning and Judar demanded a crate of peaches in exchange for his services and I never touched another musical instrument again.

And that is the tale of my first (and weirdest) serenade.

**Author's Note:**

> The "oud" is basically a guitar and the "qanun" is something like a harpsichord. I have no idea how they work, sorry.


End file.
